Victoria Cannabis Buyers' Club of
Canada Court Cases
RELEVANT ARTICLES
Chance police visit results in bust at CBC o C
Ted Smith requests help to stay out of jail
Ted Smith charged with Possession for the purpose
of trafficking
Marijuana advocate urges police to donate pot
seized from him to Ottawa“Bookstore” owner likely to be
busted
Police Report from January's Bust
Feb.27 a SUCCESS! Next Court Date: July
22nd
Victoria Cannabis Club founder faces jail
Smith Fears Jail Time
“Good Samaritan” faces pot
trafficking charge
Police raid local store, seize pot stash worth
$18,500
CBCoC BUSTED: TED SMITH IS IN JAIL
Letter to Victoria City Council
Letter to David Anderson, Victoria MP
Letter to David Anderson's Office
Constitutional Challenge Delayed
Indefinately
Police review medical pot policies
Victoria OK's potVictoria compassion club under attack
Medical Cannabis Club Busted Again
Important Court Decisions Continue
Last raid goes to trial first?
Trial Date for Colby will be set Thursday
Another Police Report: Another Mess
Transcript of the ruling from Ted's last
Bail Hearing
City pushes for medical marijuana
decision
The Lockdown, Part 1: Ted's Books Gets
Busted
Democracy Denied at
UVic
Ryan and Scott are (relatively) free; Trial
Arrangement next week.
UPDATE: COURT DATE THIS AFTERNOON: VICTORIA
CANNABIS BUYERS' CLUB BUSTED
Court decisions on pot won't affect police
tactics
Supreme Court Reviews Cannabis Laws
Ted's constitutional trial delayed (and
delayed, and delayed…)
Council to decide on license request for pot
provider
UPCOMING COURT EVENTS All Trials at the Victoria
Courthouse
Trial Dates in Victoria
Medical Marijuana: Pot ‘club' had
police OK, court told.
Mother Teresa-like caring behind pot club, court
told
A Twisted Tale of Justice: Ted Smiths Trials to
Begin Soon
Another Court Victory; Trials Begin March
30
Ted Smith In Court Today
ACQUITTAL EXPECTED FOR SEPT 7, 2004.
Pot Activist Hopes For Acquittal.
Pot Trial Up In Smoke. |
Pot Cafe's Activities Harming Relationship
With Police: Activist.
Ted Smith - Angel Of Mercy Or Drug
Dealer?
A Desperate Few Risk Breaking Law To Beat Their
Pain: For Cannabis Buyers, The Motive Is Chronic Illness, Not A
High.
Police To Keep Enforcing Pot Laws Despite Stay
Against Pot Advocate.
Compassion Club Operator Sees Pot Charges Stayed
By Judge.
REGINA v. LEON SMITH AND COLBY BUDDA: REASONS FOR
JUDGEMENT OF THE HONOURABLE JUDGE L. F. CHAPERON.
Sharing is Trafficking by Ted Smith
AFFIDAVIT OF LEON TED SMITH.
Court Too Stuffed For Cookies.
Ted Smith's Pot Cookie Trial
Postponed.
COOKIE TRIAL ON NOV 8.
HUGE VICTORY IN COURT.
Pot advocate Smith guilty of trafficking
FIASCO IS IN CHARGING FOR POT-RELATED
CRIME
Pot activist?s charter rights ?violated?
Marijuana promoter targeted by police, witness
testifies
Smith found guilty of trafficking but avoids
record
Ted Smiths reasons for judment
June 27, 2005 Court date appealing the UVIC
trafficking conviction
April 18, 2005 Next court date appealing Jan07/05
verdict.
Pot activist could file appeal from jail after
sentencing for drug trafficking
A SAGA OF TRIALS AND ERRORS by Ted Smith
Marijuana activist sentenced to one day in jail
after conviction
Jury finds pot activist guilty in possession
case
Ted Smith convicted for cookie giveaway.
THC in cookies was minimal, court told
Police bring THC-laced cookies to trafficking
trial of pot activist
Pot advocate loses charter bid
Medical marijuana champion beats trafficking
charge in court
RESIN CHARGES THROWN OUT by Ted Smith
Pot Advocate Guilty
REGINAv.LEON EDWARD SMITH Part 1
Regina vs. Smith Part 2
REGINA vs. SMITH Part 3
REGINA vs. SMITH Part 4
REGINA vs. SMITH Part 5
REGINA vs SMITH Part 6
REGINA vs. SMITH Part 7
Regina vs. SMITH Part 8
REGINA vs SMITH Part 9
REGINA vs. SMITH Part 10
SHARING APPEAL ON JAN 26, by Ted Smith
COURT CASES FINALLY OVER, by Ted Smith |
This information is gathered from the UVSS Hempology 101
Club Lecture Series: Lesson 11
In Sept '95, Hempology 101 started in
Victoria by Ted Smith. Shortly after, in Nov, the medical
use of cannabis quickly became an international issue after Prop.
215 passed in California. Many people came to meetings with
serious medical problems looking for a Cannabis Buyers Club like
the one in San Francisco. Ted met Leslie, who made cannabis
cookies and salve and decided to open a CBC in Victoria, the
first compassion club in the country in Jan 1996. With a
pager and pamphlet, Ted began deliveries from his van to people
with permanent, physical disabilities and diseases. The
club got an apartment that spring, where for about 5 years the
group slowly grew.
Responsibility for the CBC was almost given to
Phil Lucas in '99 when he started the Vancouver Island
Compassion Society, until Ted realized VICS would only help
people with doctor's recommendations and turns its back
upon sick people without doctor's support. On Nov 15,
2000, Ted was arrested at the annual cookie give-away on
International Medical Marijuana Day. In March ‘01,
Ted was told by Victoria police to get a store for the CBC, as
they were arresting another person in the apartment building for
selling cannabis. On April 1, ‘01, Ted's Books
opened on Johnson St., helping the club become more accessible
and functional. In Jan 2002, a CBC was started in Halifax
N.S., by John Cook, making the club coast-to-coast. On Jan
3, ‘02, police were brought to the Victoria club by an
ex-member who was cut-off for reselling
cannabis.
A search was consented to and the store was
allowed to stay open, though charges were laid one month
later. The store was raided with a warrant on March 21,
'02, when Ted was last arrested and the name Ted's
Books was taken down and replaced with ‘under
renovations'. The store was raided again June 21,
‘02, and finally on Feb 17, ‘03. Constant
efforts were made to inform Victoria City Council about police
raids, Health Canada and the plight of medical users. This
resulted in a resolution in April ‘02 supporting the
medical use of cannabis and the city officially declaring Nov 15
as International Medical Marijuana Day.
While waiting for the trials, the International
Hempology 101 Society applied for a bookstore license on Johnson
St. but was turned down in a 7-2 vote by city council. The
two who voted in our favor are now elected to higher positions:
Rob Fleming represents the NDP in the provincial government and
Denise Savioe, also with the NDP, represents Victoria in the
Federal government. On Sept 7, ‘04, Madam Justice
Chaperon granted an acquittal to Ted and Colby Budda for charges
laid in the first raid. In the next trial on Jan 7,
‘05, Madam Justice Harvey convicted Ted for selling
cannabis resin in food and skin products, after the charges of
trafficking cannabis were dropped.
Ted filed the appeal himself and the Department of Justice
decided to give in and allow the decision to be overturned
without argument in court. All other charges were thrown
out in court due to lack of evidence. In total, 11 various
trafficking charges were beaten by the club from these
raids. In ‘05 in Halifax, the club had cannabis
intercepted on the bus. Charges were dropped by the crown before
the case was seen by a judge. In March ‘06, the City
of Victoria wrote a letter to Health Canada, stating that the
MMAR were ineffective and inadequate, and needed to be completely
reviewed. The club currently sells 11 edible cannabis
products and 11 cannabis skin products to about 1900 members in
Victoria and 75 members in Halifax.
[15] Mr. Smith is candid in admitting he is a
crusader for legalization of marihuana for medical purposes and
otherwise. He testified he had been running the Club for about 7
years out of an apartment. When this created problems, he says he
was told by police to get a storefront which he did in 2001. In
fact, he gave in evidence the name of the officer who told him
this. Mr. Smith was very knowledgeable about the various diseases
and conditions for which marihuana use could provide relief. He
testified that he had decided as far back as November, 1995 to
provide this service to sick people.
[16] Mr. Smith's evidence, which I found
completely credible, was that the police were well aware of what
he was about but didn't interfere because he was selling
marihuana for medical purposes only. He said on numerous
occasions undercover officers had come in and tried to buy drugs
but were refused. He described the procedure used to qualify
members. They had to produce photo identification, proof of a
disability or disease for which marihuana could provide relief
and in some cases a recommendation from doctor. For physical
diseases proof of condition or disease was sufficient but for
mental health problems a doctor's note was
needed.
[17] Mr. Smith's evidence was that he and
the other persons working at the Club were paid $10.00 an hour
and operated 365 days a year because of the perceived
need.
[18] At the time of the alleged offence the
Government of Canada had responded to the Ontario Court of Appeal
decision in Regina v. Parker (2000) 146 C.C.C. (3d) 193 which had
held the prohibition against marihuana possession was
unconstitutional absent a constitutionally acceptable medical
exemption to that prohibition, by introducing the Medical
Marihuana Access Regulations (MMAR). This set up a scheme whereby
persons with a condition or disease for which marihuana could be
an effective treatment could obtain an authorization to possess.
What the MMAR did not however provide in January of 2002 was a
reliable means by which persons in need could legally acquire
their marihuana.
[19] Such people were thus forced to acquire
their marihuana on the black market. It is unsettling to
contemplate persons with AIDS or who are undergoing cancer
treatment being forced to go down to the illegal drug emporium
which operates in the downtown core of Victoria to acquire their
marijuana from persons who are only in selling them drugs of
unknown quality for a profit. But on Jan 3, 2002, but for
compassion clubs such as Mr. Smith's, that was their only
alternative.
[27] On the one hand, the Government was
relying on these clubs to be the “unlicensed reliable
supplier” of medical marihuana to those in need, while on
the other hand it was criminalizing their actions and continuing
to prosecute them. In so doing it was engendering a disrespect
for the law and the administration of justice because of the
fundamental unfairness of such a position. REASONS FOR
JUDGEMENT, Smith & Budda, Justice Chaperon, B.C. Provincial
Court, Sept 7, 2004
But Ted Smith, founder of the Victoria-based
Cannabis Buyers' Club of Canada, says it's not an
accurate comparison.
"He's (PPS president Brent Zettl)
comparing his average to the average THC content in stuff seized
by police, not the average THC content in compassion clubs,"
Smith says. But the problem here is his compassion club
doesn't do its own testing.
"It's debatable right, how much THC is
in the pot we sell because we don't test it, but I think
it's probably 16-17 per cent THC. Well, that five per cent
difference (PPS cannabis has 12.5% THC) is quite substantial to
people who are sick."
The big selling point for compassion clubs like
Smith's are the variety of strains of pot and related
products they sell. Currently the Cannabis Buyers' Club of
Canada sells 22 different skin and food products and supplies
medical marijuana to about 1,900 clients, mostly on Vancouver
Island. Victoria News, BATTLE FOR BUD, by Andrea Lavigne, Nov 8,
2006.
Victoria's mayor has thrown his support
behind local medicinal pot users and called upon Health Canada to
conduct an immediate review of how it provides medical marijuana
to Canadians. A presentation to council by local compassion
clubs last month prompted Alan Lowe to draft a letter to federal
Health Minister Tony Clement criticizing public access to the
Federal Marijuana Medical Access Regulation program.
”Many of these citizens rely on marijuana
for the purpose of pain management and have expressed an
inability to access the… program”, he wrote in the
March 20 letter. Without proper access, “many
Canadians will continue to suffer”. Times Colonist,
VICTORIA MAYOR OFFERS SUPPORT TO MEDICAL POT USERS, by Rob Shaw,
03/27/06.
I am aware of the fact that I just admitted to
you that I am engaged in what is considered to be an illegal
activity and I would like to further explain why I feel that it
is necessary
for me to do so at this time. Since I began this venture I have
been very concerned with jeopardizing my personal safety, those
who are helping me and especially the health and well being of
out clients. Many have chosen not to affiliate themselves with me
because of their fear of arrest and persecution, from family
members and society as a whole. Those who have joined this
organization have placed a great deal of trust in my ability to
help further the awareness of medical marijuana. I have the
utmost respect for you and the job that you are doing. Letter by
Ted Smith to Chief of Police, March 19, 1997.
Despite his best efforts, a high-profile
medical marijuana user and supplier charged with drug trafficking
didn't get his day in court Tuesday. “I
really wanted to put an end to this,” 40-year-old John Cook
said outside a Truro courtroom after two charges were stayed by
Crown Attorney Cameron MacKinnon without explanation.
“I assume it's just too messy a situation for them to
deal with,” said Mr. Cook, a Harrietsfield, Halifax County,
resident and provincial director for the Cannabis Buyers'
Club of Canada. CHARGES STAYED IN MEDICAL POT CASE, Weds. Sept 5,
2005, Chronicle Herald, by Cathy Von Kintzel.
REFERENCES
Smith, Leon ‘Ted', HEMPOLOGY 101
TEXTBOOK, 1996, available at hempology.ca
R. vs Brad Bowler, Feb 12, 2003, Supreme Court of B.C., Madam
Justice Dorgan
R. vs Smith & Budda, Sept 7, 2004, B.C. Provincial Court,
Madam Justice Chaperon
R. vs Leon ‘Ted' Smith, Jan 7, 2005, B.C. Provincial
Court, Madam Justice Harvey
Victoria City Council Minutes April 10, 2003
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